Kolkata Mishti Doi -- Bengali sweet yogurt

Kolkata's Mishti Doi | Laal Doi

Mishti Doi is a sweet yogurt that is very popular in Bengal. The yogurt has a reddish tinge due to simmering milk for a long time and caramelizing sugar. This recipe gives both an oven as well as a non-oven version to set the doi.

In my childhood, Kolkata was the land of two kinds of "doi" or yogurt.

Tok doi -- the regular tart yogurt, white in color, which we always had with a sprinkle of sugar and the only kind available where we lived.
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Mishti Doi -- a reddish tinged, sweet and creamy yogurt served in small earthenware cups. This was only available in Kolkata in those days and was high on the list of our things-to-eat during our annual visits.
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Some people called this "laal doi" or red yogurt because of the reddish tinge. Some stores went all fancy and branded it as "Payodhi". My Baba was a huge fan of this one and since we didn't get mishti doi where we lived, he had it almost every day during our Kolkata visits.
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But still basically two types of yogurt.
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Last year, when I went to Balaram's outlet in MishtiHub, I was confronted with myriad varieties of yogurt. There was "Kheer doi" , "Aam or Mango Doi", "Baked Doi" (which seemed to be bhapa doi) and then our "Mishti Doi".
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This was all very good but the "Mishti Doi" was white. I mean no reddish tinge ar all. White as if it was washed in Surf Excel!! I squinted and looked at it from all angles but it looked nothing like that "laal mishti doi" of my childhood 😩😩. (It tasted very good though).
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I even asked the servers at the store about the color, and the young men gave me weird looks and said "Mishti Doi has always been white".

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Now for me Mishti Doi is always reddish with a caramel tinged color. It is said that the original Laal Doi attributes its origin  to Nabadwip's Phasitala, and Kali Ghosh. Kali Ghosh and Hari Ghosh were two brothers, who used to make curd and whey. They would boil buffalo milk and let it simmer in a gentle fire for a long time, to thicken and condense it. The milk took on a reddish tinge as it simmered and thickened. This milk was then sweetened and used to set Yogurt. Later the store bought Mishti Doi always had a layer of dalda or some kind of fat reddish in color on the top. It was really delicious!!

When I saw this reddish colored Misthi Doi made by a friend last week, I knew I had to make it. However I got the red color by caramelizing the sugar.
I basically used the same recipe as I have for my Bhapa Doi but I used caramelized sugar instead of Condensed milk. Also this was not bhapa so there was no steaming. I did not do the water bath in the oven that I do for my bhapa doi. Instead I kept the oven temperature low at 200F and kept this yogurt to set in the oven for 2 hrs. A lower temperature and longer time is better.

Few points to Note:
1. I used Evaporated Milk in this recipe so my process was fairly quick and easy. If you are using Whole Milk, you have to reduce the milk.
2. My sugar got caramelized a little bit more. I should have stopped a few secs early.
3. I think adding 2-3 Tbsp of Condensed Milk would be more to my taste for this Mishti Doi.
4. This tastes best chilled for 3-4 hours.

Khejur Gur er Rasogolla in Instant Pot

Khejur Gur Roshogolla

Today is a day that will go down in history. Well, at least my history.

First, because I pulled out the InstantPot from the caverns of the Pantry and found it still smelled of mangshor jhol made a month ago. Well, the second part is not historical. That I pulled the IP out and put it to use was a historical moment.

Second, I used the InstaPot for something that was worthwhile finally. I used it to make Khejur Gur er Roshogolla !!

There are two people who are directly or indirectly responsible for this. Our friend, Kaushik, the master roshogolla maker who makes roshogolla making seem as simple as a magician taking a rabbit out of a hat. Second, is our other friend Deepshikha, who champions the IP and finally pushed me to use it.
And then my Dad, who sent photos of  "Notun Gur Utsav" -- a festival celebrating the new date palm jaggery that is a product of this season. The sight of those delicious sweets, sondesh, patishapta, pithe puli would send anyone to depression

I was seriously craving some khejur gur er roshogolla aka rasgullas in date palm jaggery syrup, after seeing the photos they shared and had to make some. This time around , the process really seemed far more streamlined and easier. I think it was practice that made it seem so.

The roshogollas came out soft, juicy and spongy both times I made them. The Khejur Gur I had got from India during my November visit was not the best quality but even that added a beautiful flavor to the syrup and to the roshogollas.

Also, I can now totally understand those stories about folks who went to a wedding and ate 100 roshogollas straight from the bhiyen (the sweet maker's set up). The fresh, spongy, roshogollas with no additivies, hot off the syrup are really delicious and kind of melt in your mouth. I, who am not a big sweet fan, had 20 today. Yes TWENTY!!!

Nolen Gur Shooters -- for Ma Saraswati

So all this shooter-wooter was initiated by a single text. A text from a friend's little sister living in London.

Last month she sent me a message "BMdi, do you have a Nolen Gur er souffle recipe?"

Until that very moment I had no idea of any existence of "Nolen Gur er Souffle". A souffle as I know it is this --"A soufflé is a baked egg-based dish which originated in early eighteenth century France. It is made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert."

So would a Nolen Gur er souffle be an egg based dessert sweetened by Nolen gur or would it be a faux eggless version? I didn't know!

"How do they make it I asked?".
This particular young lady had earlier shared her secret malai kabab recipe with me and they were the very best, and so I hoped she would know this one too. (Will post that kabab recipe sometime).

"I don't know. Balaram Maullick has it," she replied back.

Since that day, I kept on thinking of Nolen gur er souffle. After a bit of research and since I wasn't sure if I should or should not add eggs, I finally decided on a mousse kind of recipe. After all a mousse -- a mousse is a soft prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture-- is a close cousin of a souffle. The bonus point was mousse can get its foaminess from whipping cream and not always eggs. Perfect!

Now since I am a very lazy-bone, I found the simplest of all mousse recipes that needs only two ingredients. And then decided to jazz it up and serve them as shooters.

Now, Nolen gur or Khejur Gur is a very precious commodity for me. I don't get good ones here. My Ma buys them in winter and then saves some for me. She usually tries to send it through anyone who is flying to USA from DumDum Airport. Actually she did that more frequently earlier until folks stopped telling her that they are flying to USA. "Nope,  I am not flying to US. Jhumritalaiya has a new airport called JFK."

I use my limited stash very very judiciously. Birthday paayesh and such only gets to see my Khejur Gur. So I wasn't just going to make Nolen Gur shooters for my own pleasure. Nope. So I waited and waited for the right moment... and here its.

These Nolen Gur Shooters are Ma Saraswati's proshad tomorrow. I bet she will be very happy.

Mitan Ghosh's Gulab Jamun CheeseCake -- No Bake

Many of you already know 🌸Mitan Ghosh,  a successful fashion designer in her own rights. Her designer sarees and dresses are quite the rage in US. You can have a peek at her beautiful collection here and I promise you, you will be hooked forever. Just like her designs, her home is another work of art and I love, love how she designs each corner.

Her creativity runneth over and you can see her magic touch in everything from exquisite saris to scintillating wedding trousseau, from carefully curated paintings to the food she cooks.

I asked her a few rapid fire questions for fun and here is what she had to say:

🍁1. Designing or Cooking?

Designing

🍁2. What do you like cooking best?

I am not really fond of cooking but when I do cook anything, I do so passionately!

🍁3. Favorite Food?

Dal, Bhaat, Begun Bhaaja

🍁4. Favorite Designer?

None. Oh wait, Gaurang Shah.

🍁5. Mishti na Nonta ?

Mishti

🍁6. Favorite Restaurant?

NJ/NY: Minado for Sushi
Kolkata: 6 Ballygunge Place
Mumbai: Mahesh Lunch Home
Chennai: Ponnusamy

I love Mitan, not only for her multiple talents, or because she is a wonderful person inside out, but because we share the same day of birth and it only gives me hope :-p, for myself that is!

Last week she baked a Gulab Jamun Cheese Cake as a test run for our Thanksgiving meal. Now this Thanksgiving I will not be sharing this meal as I will be traveling miles to celebrate it with another set of my friends.

So when I saw the photos of her test run, I pleaded and cajoled and she sent me a generous portion to taste. That very morning we were discussing this cheesecake recipe. Mitan had taken the idea of a Gulab Jamun cheesecake but played around with the ingredients to make it a far more simpler version than anything you would get on the internet. I told her if it works well, I am going to give it a try :-) And boy the outcome was gorgeous.

I followed her instructions and made the cheesecake over this weekend. It was so so good. I shared it with neighbors and colleagues and everyone raved about it.

It is
no bake
easy to make
freezes very well
and Delicious
Those are all my criteria for a good dessert!

Make it this week. Perfect dessert for your Thanksgiving table straddling the East and the West.

The Faux Gajar Halwa -- carrots in the microwave

If you are the type who will spend hours standing in front of the stove coaxing a gajar to become a creamy, sweet, decadent halwa because you value time and quality and you are not the one to compromise...shoo, for this post is not for you.

This post is for the types who want to be the ever sacrificing Bollywood Mother feeding sons and daughters gajar ka halwa by the pounds but not ready to sacrifice their precious nap time for it. They also do not want to serve store bought or "Maine Banaya Gits se" kind of Gajar ka Halwa. They think that takes away the glamor from the sentence "Beta, aaj maine tere liye Gajjar Ka Halwa Banaya hai". For them the 20 min Gajar ka Halwa in the Microwave comes in a super time saver pack. With this I am done with that, the stove top one, unless of course it is someone other than me sweating it out for hours on the stove top.

This microwave version of the Gajar Halwa was something I first had a friend's party. She, the friend, is a dessert queen of the Bread Pudding and Tiramisu fame. However this one time she completely ignored my e-mail and sent me the recipe only a day after I had made the darn Halwa. So the recipe I am sharing is not hers but is the one I loosely followed from Veggie Platter here, but then again all of them are almost same with little differences here and there. Red Chilies also has a version here which does not use condensed milk but uses Milk Powder. Ultimately all of them lead to the same thing...Maa ke Haath ka Gajjar Halwa or maybe Baap ke Haath ka. Who cares?

Saturday  Monday is Mahalaya, the occasion that heralds Goddess Durga and is the formal beginning of  the Durga Pujo festival. I will not be up at 4 listening to Birendra Krishna Bhadra's chandipath on AIR But I might just make this Gajar Halwa again. You do too.

What you Need

Grated Carrots -- 4 Cups
Condensed Milk -- 1/2 Cup
Evaporated Milk -- 1 cup
Raisins -- a fistful
Cashew -- 10-12
Ghee -- 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder -- 1/2 tsp
Saffron -- few strands

How I Did It

Grate Carrots. If you have that nifty attachment on your food processor use that. Soak raisins

Now in a flat bottomed deep microwave safe bowl add 2tbsp Ghee and microwave for about 1 minute

Add 4cups of grated carrot to it and mix. Next microwave it for 2 minutes. Take it out.

Now add
1/2 cup Condensed Milk
1 cup Evaporated Milk
1/2 tsp of crushed cardamom powder
Mix uniformly with grated carrots.

Put the bowl back in the microwave for around 5 mins. Careful that there are no spills. See I told you to get a deep bowl to start with.

Take it out. Stir,add few strands of saffron and put back again for 5 more mins. Follow this pattern in slots of 3-5 mins till the moisture has evaporated and the carrots and milk come together in unison to form a halwa. You will know it when you see it. If you have never noticed a Gajar Ka Halwa look at the pic. In all it will take around 17-20 mins to be done. But then again it depends on the power of your microwave.

Meanwhile heat a tsp of ghee and roast the cashews and raisins. Garnish the halwa with the roasted nuts and the plumped up kishmish aka raisins.If you have varak, please go ahead and freak out. I love those silvery things for garnish but had none.

Ta Da. You are done and now you are all set to put your lazy self back to the couch.